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THE DEATH OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 



God in History. 



A SERMON, by Rev. OLIVER DYER. 



ft 



THE DEATH OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 



God in History. 



A SERMON, by Rev. OLIVER DYER. 

Mount Vernon, N. Y.,- September 25TH, 1881. 



NEW YORK: 

BAKER & GODWIN, PRINTERS; 

No. 25 Park Row. 
1881. 



t w 






Mr. Vernon, September 27th, 1881. 

Rev. Oliver Dyer, Mt. Vernon, 

Reverend Sir: Having had the pleasure of listening to your very excel- 
lent Sermon, delivered on Sunday, September 25th, on the death of our 
late President, and being desirous that those who did not hear it ma;, have 
Hie opportunity of reading it, and wishing, in common with many of our 
fellow-citizens, to have the Sermon in permanent form, we respectfully ask 
you to furnish us the manuscript, that we may have it published. 
Wry truly yours, 

WM. II. VAN COTT, 
HENRY HUSS, 
JAS. H. JENKINS. 



Mount Vernon, September i%th, 1881. 

Judge Wm. II. VAN Cott, Colonel Henry Iltss, and 
Major James II. Jenkins, 
Gentlemen : In response to your letter of yesterday, requesting me to 
furnish you my Sermon of last Sunday, for publication, I herewith send 
you the manuscript thereof. 

Very truly yours, 
I 01 IVER DYER. 

By tran^f^* 

JAN 21190* 



SERMON. 



The Lord reigneth ; let the earth rejoice ; let the multitude of isles be 
glad thereof. The heavens declare his righteousness, and all the people 
see his glory. Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the up- 
right in heart. Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous; and give thanks at the 
remembrance of his holiness (Ps. xcvii : i, 6, n and 12). 



It is noticeable — impressively noticeable — that 
the reign of the Lord is indissolubly connected 
with uprightness, righteousness, justice, purity, holi- 
ness, love, joy, and gladness. Wherever His king- 
dom comes and His will is done " light is sown for 
the righteous, and gladness for the upright in 
heart," and " all the people see His glory, and give 
thanks for the remembrance of His holiness." 

The primary object, the central object, the first 
and last object, the full, complete, eternal object of 
the Lord's reign, as revealed to us in His Word, is 
to have human beings become upright, righteous, 
just, pure, and holy, that they may be filled with 
joy and gladness, and become His true children, and 
abide with Him, in heavenly innocence, blessedness 
and glory, forever and ever. That is the perpetual, 
ever-acting purpose of Providence in human histo- 
ry. For that purpose the great cycles of time have 
swung round ; for that purpose the vast evolutions 
of matter and mind and spirit have gone on ; for 



that purpose all the vicissitudes of humanity have 
blossomed forth ; and thus it will be forever. 

One of the chief difficulties which beset us when 
we attempt to consider the government of God in 
the world, is a tendency to dwell on particular cir- 
cumstances, and wonder how a just and merciful 
God, who is all-wise and all-powerful, could permit 
such things to come to pass. There is a strong, 
and perhaps an irresistible tendency in every one 
to exaggerate the importance and the terribleness 
of whatever affects him and his ; of any misfortune 
that overtakes himself, or his family or friends, or 
his party, or his country, or the age in which he 
lives. This tendency is so deep and universal, it is 
such a constitutional, structural element of human- 
ity, that it is embodied in Holy Writ and given 
voice in the Word of God. " Is it nothing to you ? " 
the prophet cries, " Is it nothing to you, all ye 
that -pass by ? Behold, and see if there be any sor- 
row like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me> 
wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of 
His fierce anger." 

When any one who is dear to us dies we are 
apt to wonder what we have done that we should 
be thus afflicted. The bereavement seems hard, 
and harsh, and cruel. It is difficult, if not impos- 
sible, for us to sec what the use of it is. We can- 
not help thinking that it might just as well have 
been otherwise. And if a very great calamity oc- 



curs which affects our country and stirs the general 
heart to grief, there are thousands ready to cry out 
against it, and against Providence, and to doubt 
the reign of a just and merciful God, and to give 
up faith and trust, and fall back on fate and chance, 
and perhaps sink into despair. This specializing 
of afflictions, this personal magnifying of misfor- 
tunes and calamities, this exaggeration of their im- 
portance and our importance, works mischief. It 
misleads our judgment; it switches us off the track 
of faith in Providence ; it too often ends, as has al- 
ready been said, by plunging us into doubt and 
despair. 

This querulous, specializing view is the only 
view which many people take of the events which 
have afflicted us with such fullness of sorrow since 
the second day of last July. Why did God allow 
all this to happen ? What had President Garfield 
or his family done, that he and they should have 
been thus afflicted? What has this nation done 
that it should be thus afflicted ? are the querulous 
questions that we hear on every side. Let us try 
to answer these questions by means of an illus- 
tration. 

When General James A. Garfield, at the head 
of his brigade, in those cold and sleety January 
days of 1862, forced General Humphrey Marshall 
to evacuate Kentucky with his command, many 
innocent men were killed, wounded, mangled, on 



both sides. Some simple-minded person, over- 
whelmed at the spectacle of so much horror and 
suffering, might have asked, Why does the mer- 
ciful, the tender-hearted, the magnanimous Garfield 
permit such cruel killings and manglings to take 
place ? The intelligent answer would have been : 
Because the work which he is called upon to do, 
cannot be c^one without such things taking place. 
No matter how much he may detest bloodshed, 
no matter how much his heart may be wrung by 
war's cruel incidents, he must press relentlessly on, 
without regard to the victims that will inevitably 
strew his army's path. 

Have you never observed that no great move- 
ment ever takes place without victims? That 
what is greatly, grandly, widely beneficent seldom, 
if ever, comes to pass without working hardship, 
and suffering, and often death, to somebody? 
That every progression of 'the human race towards 
perfection (as well as the perfecting of the great 
Captain of our salvation"), is only brought to pass 
through sufferings? Why is all this so? Because 
man is a free agent, and has the power of choice 
between good and evil, and so perversely chooses 
evil that his Heavenly Father cannot save him 
from suffering without taking away his fieedom, 
which, of course, I ie will not do, because, should 
He deprive man of his freedom, man would then 
be a mere automaton, and no man at all. 



Let us help ourselves to understand this matter 
by coming back to our military illustration. Im- 
agine General Garfield to have been the command- 
er-in-chief of all the armies of the Union. We 
now know what a gentle, patient, loyal, longsuffer- 
ing Christian heart he had. Let us imagine the 
military operations of the war under the control of 
that gentle, patient, loyal, longsuffering Christian 
heart. And then let us consider the sickness, the 
suffering, the death, the carnage, the horrors of all 
the campaigns, of the marchings and countermarch- 
ings, of the sieges and battles incident to the war, 
and the saddened homes, and the widows' and 
orphans' tears, all of which would have been the 
direct result of the deliberate determinations of that 
gentle, patient, loyal, longsuffering Christian heart ; 
and what shall we say about it ? What is the justi- 
fication of all this carnage and suffering and misery 
and woe ? The justification is, that the object 
sought was worth it all, yea, many times worth it 
all. 

We know that, as a matter of fact, the control 
of the war, of that grand movement and progres- 
sion in the onward march of the human race, was 
(by virtue of his office as President of the United 
States) largely under the direction of one who was 
never excelled for kindness of heart and Christlike 
charitableness of spirit. No man ever deplored 
war more than Abraham Lincoln did. No man 



8 



ever had a more tender heart than he — a heart so 
great and so magnanimous that it sympathized 
with the sufferings of foes as well as with the suffer- 
ings of friends. He carried the nation's woe — the 
woe of both South and North — in that great, mag- 
nanimous heart during all those four bloody years ; 
as could be seen by the deep furrows worn 
in that homely, genial countenance, and the con- 
stantly increasing depth and tenderness of those 
calm, luminous, sad eyes which were at once ex- 
pressive of his yearning, patriotic sorrow and pro- 
phetic of his tragical fate. And yet, did he pause ? 
Did he shrink from the discharge of his great duty 
because of the inevitable sufferings of both friends 
and foes? No ; he went right on, calm and gentle 
and loving and firm as God's Providence itself, of 
which he was the instrument. And why did he 
thus go on ? Because the object sought was of 
such consequence and value as immeasurably to 
outweigh all the suffering and misery and woe 
which it cost. 

And what was that movement, that progression, 
whose throes lasted only a few years in one small 
section of the globe, in comparison with the grand 
movement ami progression of the human race at 
large, which has lasted from the creation of man 
until now, and is to go on lor yet uncounted aeons? 
And if in such a comparatively small and isolated 
movement and progression there had to be so 



much misery and suffering and woe, how much 
more must be required in that far grander move- 
ment and progression of humanity ? 

" But," perhaps some one is ready to ask, " why 
didn't the Creator fix things so there would be no 
necessity for all this misery and suffering and woe ?" 
The answer to that question is : Because He want- 
ed to have a human race that would do Him credit 
when it should reach its stages of perfection ; be- 
cause He wanted real men and real women, pos- 
sessing patience and fortitude, love and wisdom, 
true manliness and true womanliness, with mental, 
moral and spiritual stamina in abundance ; and the 
only way in which human beings can acquire these 
qualities is through chastening experience, through 
hardships and sufferings and all manner of distress- 
es. We sometimes meet a person who has never 
been conjugated in the passive voice of life's inex- 
orable verb, who has never suffered, who has never 
been in stress of circumstances, who has floated 
through life on a sea of rosewater, and what kind 
of a creature do we find such a person to be ? We 
find such a person to be weak, ignorant, mean, self- 
ish, babyish, contemptible. And how, with all of 
God's resources, can He make a respectable human 
being out of such a creature ? Why, by subjecting 
it to a course of misfortune, hardship, suffering. Is 
there any other way that intelligence and experi- 



ence enable us to conceive of? We all know that 
there is none. 

Suppose a drummer boy, on beholding some of 
the distressing incidents of war, should question the 
wisdom and mercy of the commander-in-chief! 
How absurd his querulousness would be ! But 
was there ever a drummer boy who was not far 
more competent to question the wisdom and mercy 
of his commander-in-chief, than the wisest man that 
ever lived is to question the wisdom and mercy of 
Almighty God ? Does a drummer boy come as 
far short of understanding a military campaign as 
the wisest man comes of understanding the eternal 
sweep of things, running through unimaginable 
cycles of ages and embracing not only all human 
and finite possibilities, but all divine and infinite 
ones also ? And if it would be presumptuous, and 
absurd, and intolerable for a drummer boy to doubt, 
and question, and shake his head over the conduct 
of his commander-in-chief, what shall we say of him 
who doubts, and questions, and shakes his head 
over the conduct of the everliving God, in whom 
he pretends to believe ? I say, in whom he pre- 
tends to believe; for it is difficult to imagine how 
any one can really believe in God, who doubts His 
wisdom, or questions His Providence. If I did 
not believe in God all through, I could not believe 
in Him at all. I fe cither is God, or else He is not 
God. If He is God, then all the rest follows; and 



II 



it is folly for any one, simply because he cannot 
understand some of the incidents of the Infinite 
Campaign, to play the role of a querulous and con- 
ceited drummer boy in the army of the Eternal, 
and question or doubt the wisdom and mercy of 
his Divine Commander-in-chief. 

As it is with the individual, so it is with the 
human race, which, taken as a whole, is a grand, 
universal man. It is the same, also, with any par- 
ticular nation ; and if we look closely into the 
matter, we shall see that nations are born and 
developed, and decay and die in a manner analo- 
gous to the way in which individuals go through 
the same processes and vicissitudes. The Lord 
says to the nation or to the race, just as He says 
to the individual : "Take my yoke upon you and 
learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart." 
Here is the point of the whole matter, the pivot 
on which the whole progressive and perfecting 
movement of men and of mankind turns. We 
must all take the Lord's yoke upon us and learn 
of Him. The Lord's yoke is the symbol, and the 
very fact and spirit of mental, moral and spiritual 
discipline ; of obedience to law, of that manly sub- 
ordination to the principles of everlasting right- 
eousness, of which our Saviour gives us the great 
Divine example. The Lord's yoke is the yoke of 
righteousness, justice, love, purity, obedience, humil- 
ity, mercy and holiness. It is a yoke that restrains 



our false and evil propensities, and sets our true 
and good propensities in working order. We have 
special need of that yoke now, when men are 
hanging Guiteau in effigy, and breathing threats 
of lawless violence and vengeance against him. 
We have need of this yoke when we see that 
deep, subtle, terrible oath of vengeance, which only 
a Shakespeare could formulate, quoted with appro- 
bation : 

" Kneeling before this ruin of sweet life, 
And breathing to his breathless excellence 
The innocence of a vow, a holy vow, 
Never to taste the pleasures of the world, 
Never to be infected with delight, 
Nor conversant with ease and idleness 
Till I have set a glory to this head, 
By giving it the worship of revenge." 

And when this tempest-burst of vengeance is 
quoted thousands respond, as do the characters in 
the play : 

" Our souls religiously confirm thy words.'' 

The human race has been in process of devel- 
opment for countless ages. It is nearly nineteen 
hundred years since our Lord uttered that touch- 
ins; invitation to all who wish for rest to come 
unto Him and take His yoke upon them, that they 
might find rest unto their souls. We profess to 
believe the Christian doctrines, and are counted 
among that portion of mankind which is the top- 
most flower of human development and enlight- 
enment ; and yet there are sections of our coun- 



13 

try in which Guiteau would not be safe from law- 
lessness for an hour, and it is doubtful if the 
lynching of him would distress any of us very 
much, were it not for the fear that it would hurt 
our standing with the civilized world. Ah ! how 
much we have yet to learn, and through what seas 
of suffering we may have to pass in learning it ! 
But we may be sure that when the Providential 
object or end, the perfected result, shall be attained, 
it will be worth all the cost, in the case of nations 
and of the human race, as well as in that of indi- 
viduals. 

It took ages for the now civilized portions of 
mankind to overcome the savage thirst for re- 
venge, so far as to take offences from the tribunal 
of personal passion and hand them up to the ad- 
judication of un impassioned courts of law. That 
progression is one phase, and an inexpressibly 
important phase of the Lord's yoke which civili- 
zation has to some extent taken upon itself after 
much sorrowful experience. Let us not be par- 
ties to anything which would tend to loosen this 
yoke from off the conscience of the nation, and 
send us back towards the barbarism from which 
our branch of the race, after ages of contest with 
their baser passions, slowly emerged. 

And yet, notwithstanding these principles and 
sentiments of law and religion, which we doubt- 
less all intellectually approve, it is not to be dis- 



14 

guised that, struggle with our passions as we will, 
and pray as fervently as we may, the assassina- 
tion of President Garfield is an event which tries 
to the utmost the religion of some of the most 
religious. No matter how obedient to the Lord's 
yoke we try to be, when we allow ourselves to 
think of the circumstances of the assassination, 
we are in danger of getting beside ourselves and 
wildly wishing the yoke were a material substance 
that we could use as an implement with which 
to beat out the assassin's brains. We cannot sum- 
mon up language of our own with which to ex- 
press our sense of the atrocity, the shamefulness, 
the maddening imbecility of the crime, which 

"Is the very top, 
The height, the crest, the crest unto the crest, 
Of murder's arms; which is the bloodiest shame, 
The wildest savagery, the vilest stroke, 
That ever wall-eyed wrath or staring rage 
Presented to the tears of soft remorse." 

In the bewildering swirl of our grief, we are 
tempted to censure Providence and conjure up 
pictures of something better which might have 
happened. The fact is recalled to us by number- 
less orators and newspaper writers, that, on the 
19th of September, 1863, just eighteen years be- 
fore he died at Elberon, General Garfield rode 
through a tempest of " leaden rain and iron hail " at 
Chickamauga without finding a bullet for himself, 
although horses were shot under him and cum- 






i5 

panions were slain at his side. Why, it is asked, 
could he not have fallen gloriously on that famous 
battle-field and died like a hero, instead of living 
to be shot down in such an unspeakably villain- 
ous manner ? How much better it would have 
been for him to have been slain there, as by the 
lightning's stroke, than to linger for nine-and-sev- 
enty days in perpetual agony, and waste away by 
slow degrees. 

At first thought, and under the influence of 
their sympathy for his sufferings, many good peo- 
ple respond affirmatively to these sentiments, and 
say: " Yes ; how much better it would have been !" 
and question the ways of Providence with more 
or less bitterness, because it was not suffered thus 
to be. 

But, would it have been better ? Would it 
have been better for General Garfield, or for his 
family, or for his country, or for Christendom ? I 
think that, on reflection, the most querulous ques- 
tioner of Providence will say : No ; it would not 
have been better. Had General Garfield been slain 
at Chickamauga he would have missed the great- 
est usefulness and the crowning glory of his life, 
and one of the brightest, noblest, sweetest pages 
in the history of his country and of Christendom 
would never have been written. 

The workings of Providence cannot be fore- 
seen. They do not become visible until they have 



i6 

taken place. You will remember that when the 
prophet of God requested to see Jehovah, he was 
only permitted to see His back after He had 
passed by. That is all we can see of the Lord 
in His Providence ; we see the results after He 
has passed by. And His passage sometimes occa- 
sions marvelous illuminations, in the light of which 
things that were before obscure and seemingly of 
no importance, are seen to be of priceless value, 
and forever stand as glorious examples and beacon- 
lights to mankind. This is pre-eminently so in 
the providential career of President Garfield. All 
unknown to the world he, as child and boy, had 
lived one of the noblest lives, one of the most 
filial lives, one of the sweetest, gentlest, most 
dutiful lives ever lived by any child or boy on 
earth. But the precious lesson of that life was in 
danger of being lost to the world. It was lying 
hidden away in obscurity, like the neglected nega- 
tive of a photograph, and no picture of it seemed 
likely to be taken. But the patience, the forti- 
tude, the gentleness, the sweet, trusting Christian 
faith and resignation of that suffering man during- 
all those weary days of anguish ; the spectacle of 
a man suffering thus for such a prolonged period, 
without ever uttering one word of complaint, one 
murmur of impatienee, but constantly maintaining 
a cheery, kindly, gracious spirit, turned the atten- 
tion of the world upon him, and in the light of 



i7 

the universal admiration and love which he in- 
spired, the negative of his obscure young life to 
its minutest lines, has been developed into a pic- 
ture, which, we may in moderation believe, will be 
forever prized by civilized peoples as one of the 
most valuable possessions of mankind. 

I hope it will not be thought amiss that I 
take such pride — such fond, fraternal, patriotic pride 
in the young life — the young American life — of 
James Garfield. Let us try to get some glimpses 
of it. 

His father died when James was eighteen months 
old. There were two brothers older than he, and 
one sister. He was the baby — his mother's en- 
during baby that Guiteau shot. The family was 
livine in a losr cabin in the woods that lined the 
shore of Lake Erie, in Cuyahoga county, Ohio. 
The father left them fifty acres of wild land. The 
widowed mother sold a part of it to get a small 
sum wherewith to buy the necessaries of life and 
improve the remainder of the land. 

" Improve the remainder of the land !" Have 
you any idea what that phrase meant to that woman 
away off there in the woods, on the shore of Lake 
Erie, forty-eight years ago? I will not give the 
particulars of its meaning to her. The recital would 
be too painful. I will mention, however, that among 
the lighter labors which she had to perform was 
the fencing- of the farm, and that she split the 






i8 

rails and built the fences herself with but little 
assistance besides that of her oldest boy, who was 
scarcely more than a child in years. 

The baby, James, from the time he had an idea, 
was particularly devoted to his mother. Clinging 
to her dress as soon as he could walk, he followed 
her about, trying to help her in his infantile way. 
And it was not long before he could really help 
her, by fetching and carrying little things and gath- 
ering chips, and in various other small ways. And 
he never ceased to help his mother. He loved her, 
and honored her, and served her with all his heart, 
mind, soul and strength. And in the exercise of 
that filial love and devotion he laid the foundation 
of his character ; and in that rough and tough school 
of filial service in those Lake Erie woods he ac- 
quired something more precious than the most 
richly endowed institution of learning could have 
given him. He was living a life in accordance with 
the commandments of God, and by his conduct he 
opened his mind and heart to the influx of Divine 
truth and love ; and that light which is sown for 
the righteous illuminated his understanding, and 
his soul was nourished by that gladness which is 
for the upright in heart. 

By the time he was ten years old he had learned 
the value of ready money and how much his 
mother needed it ; and that he might earn some 
ready money for her, he, mere child though he was, 



sought and obtained employment as a woodchop- 
per, and in the course of two years, working as he 
had opportunity, the devoted boy had earned and 
saved twenty-five dollars, which he proudly and 
joyously laid in his mother's lap. Perhaps there 
are persons here who have some notion what a vast 
sum twenty-five dollars in cash was in a remote 
region thirty-eight years ago. 

James then wanted to go to sea, and his mother 
at last consented to his going. He went to Cleve- 
land, then a thriving young city, but to him a vast 
seaport. He failed to get a berth as a sailor, and 
no wonder, considering his extreme youth. But, 
determined to help his mother, he resorted to work 
which he loathed — driving mules on the towpath 
of the Ohio canal — because he could get no other 
employment. When he returned home, his elder 
brother and himself built the weather-board house 
in which the family thenceforward lived. It was 
roughly, but honestly and thoroughly built. Then 
James went to work at the carpenter's trade, and 
bought books, and studied nights, and after awhile 
went to a country school ; and from that time his 
history is well known. 

What a lesson there is for us in this child life 
and boy life, if we have the mind, aye, if we have 
the heart to read it aright ! It is said — and it is an 
old and familiar adage — that the boy is father to 



20 

the man. How true the old adage was in this case. 
Here was a faithful, dutiful little boy, living in ob- 
scure simplicity and innocence, saying his prayers at 
his mother's knee, and serving his mother with ab- 
solute devotion. You all remember what occurred 
when that boy, grown to manhood, was sworn 
in as President of the United States ; how he im- 
mediately went to his mother, grown venerable in 
years, and kissed her with the same filial respect 
and devotion, and with the same childlike sim- 
plicity, with which he caressed her in their rustic 
home in his boyish years. That boy was certainly 
father to that man. And that boy was a Bible boy. 
He was obedient, faithful, loving. He honored his 
parents. He honored his dead father ; he honored 
his living mother. It is doubtful if the command- 
ment, " Honor thy father and thy mother : that thy 
days may be long upon the land which the Lord 
thy God giveth thee," was ever more faithfully kept, 
both in its letter and in its spirit, than by that little 
Garfield boy. 

And here some one may ask, " Why, then, 
didn't the Lord keep His promise, and make his 
days long in the land which He gave him, instead 
of suffering him to be cut oif in the very prime and 
pride of his manhood ? " 

That is a fair question, from tin' doubting and 
censorious point of view ; and it is a question which 



21 

any one, who is so disposed, has a right to ask. Let 
us consider it : 

Has not the Lord kept his promise to that boy ? 
Yea, has He not kept it in the fullest measure ? 
Is there any other man of this generation to whom 
the Lord, through His Providence, has given this 
land in such absolute fullness and completeness as 
he has given it to James A. Garfield ? Is there any 
other man of this generation who has such an en- 
during hold on all parts of the land ? and not only 
this land, but all the lands of the civilized world ? 
Who possesses all that is best and most enduring in 
them all in such full measure as President Garfield ? 
And shall not his days be long in them ? Is there 
anybody of this generation who will live longer in 
them than he will live ? 

When we are considering the promises of God, 
and the Providence of God, and God in history, we 
must rise above the limitations of narrow, sensuous 
temporal views, and try to look upon these great 
subjects in the light of spiritual and eternal truth, 
if we would understand God's promises, and be 
blessed in our understanding of them. 

I pass by the many social, political, sectional and 
national lessons which the events we are now con- 
sidering carry for us in their bosom. The newspa- 
pers have said, and are saying, and saying well, all 
that need be uttered on these points. But I cannot 



22 

forbear to revert once more to that child life, and 
boy life, in those Lake Erie woods. There was the 
germ and the root of that character which all the 
world now admires and loves. Let the history of 
that young life be spread before the children of the 
land. Let it be incorporated in their school books. 
Let them learn it by heart. Let its full significance 
be taught to them. Let the children and youth of the 
land learn, and if possible let the lesson be engraven 
in their hearts, that the child that is faithful to its pa- 
rents, and loves, honors, obeys, and serves them 
with fidelity and devotion, as it has opportunity, 
is in the direct current of God's Providence. A 
child need not be poor to secure the benefits of this 
lesson. No matter what its station or its circum- 
stances may be, if with all its heart, mind, soul and 
strength, it thus honors, obeys and serves its father 
and its mother, or whichever parent the Providence 
of God may have left it on earth, as that little boy 
in those Lake Erie woods honored, obeyed and 
served his mother, the promises of its Heavenly 
Father "to those who remember His command- 
ments to do them " will be kept to that child. 
Though such a faithful and obedient child may 
sometimes fall, it "shall not be utterly cast down." 
Its nature will be enlarged and enriched and enno- 
bled and strengthened by Divine inlluences. The 
seeds of true manliness, or of true womanliness, 



23 

will be planted deep in the recesses of its spirit in 
the spring-time of its life, from which, by proper 
cultivation through the summer of its manhood or 
womanhood, a rich harvest of honor and usefulness 
may be garnered in the autumn of its age. These 
are some of the precious lessons which may be 
learned, not only by the boys and girls of this land, 
but by its men and women also, from the child life, 
and the boy life, and the grown up life of James A. 
Garfield. And that life further teaches us the prac- 
tical lesson that we need more Bible, more mother — 
religious mother — more of the Spirit of God in the 
education of our children, if we would have them 
develop into the highest types of men and women ; 
that the heart, the conscience, the whole moral na- 
ture must be educated, as well as the intellect, if we 
would have men and women who shall be a bless- 
ing to their families and their country and an honor 
to their race. 

To-morrow, the body of our beloved President 
is to be laid away in the tomb. The heart of the 
world will be turned to its resting place. The tears 
of mankind will be shed for our American boy. 
The greatest of earth's potentates will mingle 
their tears for him with those of peasants and peo- 
ple of every degree. No such spectacle has ever 
before been witnessed in this world. Our Presi- 
dent " sinks to rest," not only " by all his country's 



24 

wishes blest," but also by the heartfelt wishes of 
mankind. And 

•' When Spring, with dewy fingers cold, 
Returns to deck his hallowed mould, 
She there shall dress a sweeter sod, 
Than Fancy's feet have ever trod. 
By fairy hands shall his knell be rung, 
By forms unseen his dirge be sung; 
There Honor '11 come, a pilgrim gray, 
To bless the turf that wraps his clay, 
And Freedom shall awhile repair, 
To dwell a weeping hermit there." 



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